vegansaurus!

This Saturday: D.C. VegFest (including a CUPCAKE EATING COMPETITION)  »

This Sat, Sep 22, thousands of people will gather at Yards Park from 11am-6pm to celebrate compassionate and delicious living at the D.C. VegFest! It’s free, it’s dog friendly, there are awesome speakers (Jane Velez Mitchell! Rich Roll! Terry Hope Romero!), tasty cooking demos (BEYOND MEAT!), fun stuff for kids to do so they’ll leave you alone with the FREE FOOD, a BEER AND WINE GARDEN (my favorite words together ever, with the exception of “pan gravy” and “FREE FOOD”), and perhaps most importantly, A CUPCAKE EATING COMPETITION. If a Vegansaurus reader doesn’t win that, I don’t want to know this site ever again. And I mean that. This site better not even fucking LOOK at me if one of us doesn’t win that damn thing.

Compassion Over Killing and the Vegetarian Society of D.C., it looks to be hella fun, and the only reason to be anywhere near our nation’s capital ever. Seriously, D.C. is SO WEIRD! Everyone there dresses in business suits and talks about politics like they can actually do something good. The last time I was there, I saw people carrying BRIEF CASES. It was like, WHERE AM I? The opening scene of Joe Vs. the Volcano?? Someone give me a case of brain cloud and take me away from this misery! JK JK but seriously folks, there’s some very good food there, and a few non-profits (like COK!) who are fighting the good fight, and um… weather? There’s that. Oh, and the Spy Museum, that place is dope. Alan Turing 4 eva.

Hella Vegan Eats pop-ups this Saturday in S.F. and also, help them start a food truck!  »

We love Hella Vegan Eats a lot. Like, tons and tons. All the love! And anyone who enjoys super delicious food feels the same way and that’s a fact! So, we’re psyched to see the menus for their pop-up brunch and dinner this Saturday at Dear Mom in the Mission! Hooray, let’s go:

As anyone with one or two eyes can see, these menus are filled with insanely delicious sounding food so you better bust your butt over there and eat it all! And also, donate to Hella Vegan Eats Indiegogo campaign because we so sososososoooo want them to be successful and serve us mean dean doughnut burger supremes forever! Seriously, if we don’t support this amazing ladies-owned vegan business and they don’t get off the ground then the republicans have already won and we should all just donate our brains and vaginas to science* because honey, trust me, you will not want them in this new scary world. Support them if you don’t want to face a United States that’s basically the set of the alternate present in Back to the Future 2. You know what I’m talking about! Marty’s mom is an alcoholic hooker married to Biff who is the president of the world and biker gangs shoot grandmas in the street and there’s no longer a sun and Crispin Glover is dead or becomes a club kid or something. Point is, that’s our future if we don’t support Hella Vegan Eats. Do it. To it.

*while it still exists. hang in there, science!!!

This Sunday! MickaCoo Pigeon and Dove Rescue Presents: WE CAN BE HEROES  »

Meet real pigeons and get vegan treats this Sunday with MickaCoo! Here are the details:

Come see The Stevie Bird Show! Meet Pigeons in pants!

Sunday, August 26, 2012 from 2 -5pm

MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue
Adoption Fair & Benefit
at the Romberg Tiburon Center
3152 Paradise Drive, Tiburon 94920

Suggested donation of $20, you’ll get two bird shows, snack on vegan tasty treats, get great deals on cool auction and raffle items and learn more about these beautiful birds and why they make such fantastic pets. Please visit http://mickacoo.eventbrite.com/ to learn more and RSVP (free raffle ticket to first 50, no prepayment required).

Drink all the tasty beer in Oakland TONIGHT!   »

SF Bay Area! Go to this beer drinking event TONIGHT in Oakland!$18 gets you a custom sandblasted, bottomless tasting glass (!!!) to sample over 25 beers. All beers are produced by local homebrewers, spanning a wide range of styles and brewing techniques. It’s not specifically vegan event but these beers are from small brewers so the fuck are they gonna get dried fish bladders?!?! Still, you might want to ask in a non-obnoxious way to raise awareness and make sure you’re not drinking fish butts.

There’s gonna be food for purchase from Spice Money, who looks rad because they’re all about building community via fresh eats, but also kinda stupid, because their vegan options look like they might be pretty weak, but what do I know?* There will also be DJs, do with that information what you will.

If you want to go, you gotta RSVP and you gotta be 21 years old because IT’S THE LAW, SON.

*but you’re in downtown Oakland and so there are mad delicious vegan places to eat! Go on a food crawl before the 8pm start time and then make it your job to get drunk even though you ate hella food already. VALUE, FOOL.

SF! Hella Vegan Pop-Up Dinner at Dear Mom this Saturday!!  »

All the details are on the flyer above so just, go!! Just show up and get ready to eat all the festive vegan food from Hella Vegan Eats and drink all the booze. It’s so easy! See you there!

Annnd here’s the menu:

NYC: The Flea Theater brings back These Seven Sicknesses!  »

My pop the theater nerd has informed me that the Flea Theater is running These Seven Sicknesses again until July 1, and once again, they’ll be serving vegan dinner at each performance!

My dad enjoyed the play very much, so he highly recommends it. Read his review on the last post!

Book review: Scott Jurek’s “Eat & Run” Plus, run with Scott today!  »

This dude running with his dog is Scott Jurek. Scott Jurek could basically kick your ass any day of the week, including days where he hasn’t slept the night before, has a broken ankle, and already ran 75 miles. See, Scott is an ultramarathoner, which means he’ll run a marathon as a warmup, then run another one, then figure that the race is just getting started. He’ll run over mountains and through lightning storms and never stop. “Hallucinations and vomiting, to me and my fellow ultrarunners,” he says, “are like grass stains to Little Leaguers.” Shit yeah, that shit’s for real. Oh yeah, by the way, just in passing, he’s vegan, and has been essentially the whole time he’s been doing this. (!!!!)

Scott, you’re my new hero, I love you! Thank you for writing this book so we can all learn about how amazing you are!

Scott’s publisher sent me a copy of Eat & Run and I was like, “Hey, I kinda like running, I’ll check that out,” despite David Foster Wallace having brilliantly explained, athlete memoirs are pretty much guaranteed to suck. I was prepared to read two pages, tell y’all the book existed, and move on.

Except the book is good! I kept wanting to read it! I read two chapters out loud in the car and my husband wanted me to keep going, even though I was gonna puke because the road got curvy! (See, right there, you can tell I’m not an ultra-athlete: I avoid things that make me puke). I wanted to read the book so much that I almost posted this review too late because I wanted to finish it first!

Too late for what, you ask? FOR YOUR CHANCE TO MEET SCOTT JUREK! 

Wednesday, June 13 (that’s today!!) in San Francisco:

• 7 to 8 p.m.: Fun run with Scott at Fleet Feet San Francisco, 2076 Chestnut St.
• 8 to 9 p.m.: Eat & Run Experience with Scott at Fleet Feet

Check out his full calendar of events; he’s in L.A. soon, and San Diego, and he’s even coming to Colorado a couple times, though on days I can’t be there, BUMMER. 

Even if you’re not a runner, you should totally go meet this dude. He’s just amazing. And inspiring. I literally got off the couch after reading this book for two hours, put on my shoes, and set off into the sweltering heat the weekend before last, because Scott made me want to.

Oh, one other thing about his book? It’s got recipes. Here’s one that’s also on his website. I haven’t tried any of them, but even if they suck I’m still gonna love him. 

Green Power Pre-Workout Drink

Hippie Dan first taught me the importance of greens like spirulina and wheatgrass. Spirulina is a green algae said to have been carried into battle by Aztec warriors. Used for centuries as a weight-loss aid and immune-booster, it has lately been studied and shown promising results as a performance enhancer for long-distance runners. Because spirulina is marketed as a dietary supplement rather than a food, the FDA does not regulate its production; buy it only from a health food store and a brand you trust.

Packed with protein (spirulina is a complete protein) and rich in vitamins and minerals, this smoothie is an excellent source of nutrition. For a little extra carbohydrate boost, replace 1 cup water with 1 cup apple or grape juice.

2 bananas
1 cup frozen or fresh mango or pineapple chunks
4 cups water
2 teaspoons spirulina powder
1 teaspoon miso

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend for one to two minutes, until the mixture is completely smooth. Drink 20 to 30 ounces (2 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups) 15 to 45 minutes before a run.

Mad City Vegan Fest is THIS weekend! GO GO GO!  »

And it looks amazing! If you’re anywhere near Madison, you gotta go. The speaker lineup is outstanding, we love the Pacific Northwest (psych, I know it’s the Pacific Midwest!), and the organizers are hilarious and adorable and really fun, so you know the event is gonna be great.

You know how with some events the organizers are out of touch and weirdo mcbeardo, and then the whole event is just you eating melba toast and being depressed about the general state of veganism and maybe crying in the corner? I KNOW YOU KNOW. Anyway, this is the exact opposite, so go! Seriously, if I could go to one event this year and weren’t dying of a cold/crippling depression/lack of snacks, I’d definitely go with you! Live for those who can’t! LIVE, I BEG OF YOU!